News archive
RAIL news archive
Please visit the RAIL news page for recent articles.
2025
Appointment of Dr Deb Mitchell as the Inaugural Senior Research Fellow within the Each-Monash Partnership
March 2025
In a significant milestone for the recently announced partnership between Each and Monash University, Dr Deb Mitchell has been appointed as the inaugural Senior Research Fellow.
Dr Mitchell brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her new role with an impressive background in healthcare leadership, research, and education.
Dr Mitchell's journey to this esteemed position is a testament to her dedication and passion for advancing healthcare. With a rich background in research and a proven track record in leadership, she is well-equipped to spearhead the development and implementation of an organisational Research Strategy at Each.
Select here to read more about Dr. Mitchell's role with the Each and Monash partnership
Monash University and EACH forge 5-Year partnership to strengthen communities
February 2025
L to R - Professor Helen Rawson (Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University), Associate Professor Natasha Brusco (Director of the Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre, Monash University), Camilla Radia-George (Executive Director of Operations, EACH), Natalie Sullivan (Chief Executive Officer, EACH)
Monash University and EACH have announced a five-year partnership agreement focusing on co-designed research, education and innovation to empower and extend both organisations' workforce, services, and community engagement.
Whilst this partnership will be led by the Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre, it will leverage the significant, interdisciplinary research, education and innovation capability across the School of Primary and Allied Health Care, and Nursing and Midwifery, and from within the Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences faculty at Monash, as well as connecting the EACH Business Development, Innovation and Impact team with Monash departments specialising in health, disability, aged and social care service redesign.
The collaboration will offer enriched educational opportunities for the EACH workforce. In addition, the collaboration will involve the establishment of the EACH Multidisciplinary Clinical School, which will incorporate both Nursing and Midwifery, as well as Allied Health. This will involve EACH staff being supported and upskilled in ‘quality supervision’ and subsequently contribute to the supervision of students on clinical placement, as well as teaching into the associated undergraduate teaching programs.
Read more about the partnership
2024
Tools for ageing well with traumatic brain injury
September 2024
The Tools for ageing well with traumatic brain injury were launched at the National Brain Injury Conference in Adelaide on 26th September 2024. This new resource, designed with and for older adults with a brain injury, was jointly funded by the TAC and icare NSW. This two-year project, led by Dr Ekegren and Professor Ian Cameron from the University of Sydney, with team members including RAIL’s Associate Professor Libby Callaway and consumer lead, Grainne Cruickshank, with input from occupational therapist Lisa Licciardi, involved extensive stakeholder consultation and consumer co-design workshops with older adults with brain injury, their families and expert clinicians. If you are interested in learning more, please email christina.ekegren@monash.edu.
Director of RAIL meeting with The Hon. Jacinta Allan and students at the Vermont South Special School
April 2024
On 28th February 2024, Director of RAIL and Vermont South Special School Council President Associate Professor Tarsh Brusco was pleased to meet with The Hon. Jacinta Allan and students to discuss school upgrades and the award-winning Gymnastics Program RAIL is running with Waverley Gymnastics, Vermont South Special School and the Monash School of Primary and Allied Health Care.
New Director of the RAIL Research Centre
February 2024
On 12th February 2024, Professor Keith Hill stepped down as Director of the Rehabilitation Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre at Monash. Professor Keith Hill was the inaugural Director of RAIL since its inception in 2019. Keith's remarkable leadership led to the successful establishment and growth of the RAIL Research Centre now comprising 14 members from various disciplines conducting impactful research across the area of rehabilitation, ageing and independent living. The RAIL team is incredibly grateful for his leadership over the last 5 years. Keith will continue 0.6 FTE with RAIL.
It is with great pleasure that Keith and the RAIL team welcomed Associate Professor Natasha (Tarsh) Brusco as the new Director of RAIL. Tarsh joined Keith and the RAIL team in 2019 as the Rehabilitation Stream Lead. She is an experienced physiotherapist and health economist, with 20 years of health service experience in clinical, management and leadership roles across multiple public and private services.
Thank you to Keith for his outstanding leadership and congratulations to Tarsh for her new position as Director of RAIL!
“We Are Well” – The intergenerational art-moving-well-being workshops to support social and cultural connection
January 2024
Towards the end of 2023 Professor Keith Hill and Dr Aislinn Lalor were active participants and researchers in a novel “Intergenerational Art-Moving-Wellbeing” program led by Dr Geraldine Burke in the Faculty of Education at Monash University in conjunction with First Nations artists and McClelland Gallery.
This fantastic four-week program brought together older adults through the University of the Third Age, school children from a local primary school (and their teachers), and university students from across education and occupational therapy, and enabled participants of all ages to engage in art and movement activities with indigenous cultural connections to enhance wellbeing.
The team are currently in the process of analysing and evaluating the program and hope to share these findings in 2024. In the meantime, you can read more about the program at: https://lens.monash.edu/@education/2023/12/07/1386323/intergenerational-learning-challenging- stereotypes-and-supporting-social-connection.
A suite of posters that feature the artwork and movement experiences are available at https://bridges.monash.edu/projects/We_Are_Well_Intergenerational_art-moving-well-being_project/184111
If you’re interested in the We Are Well project, please email Dr. Geraldine Burke at Geraldine.Burke@monash.edu
2023
RAIL's participation in the Get Active Expo
The RAIL team was pleased to join the Mornington Peninsula Shire and the Frankston City Council Get Active Expo at Camp Manyung in Mt Eliza (Victoria) on Thursday 28th September 2023 as part of the Seniors Festival. The Seniors Festival is a major state-wide festival for and involving seniors, with an emphasis on fun and good times.
The Get Active Expo was a great opportunity for the RAIL team to engage with members of the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston community. During the event, RAIL offered free balance screening with our physiotherapists, aids & equipment demonstrations from our occupational therapist & info on RAIL activities.
New article in The Conversation by A/Prof Libby Callaway and Dr Natasha Layton from RAIL
Following the Federal Government budget announcement on 9/5/23, which included various measures relating to the NDIS, A/Prof Libby Callaway and Dr Natasha Layton had an opinion piece published in The Conversation and Libby was interviewed on ABC Radio in NSW. The article - titled "Government plans to use NDIS purchasing power to help save billions – but they shouldn’t put products before people" - was focused on the NDIS assistive technology reforms announced, including the plan to leverage NDIS assistive technology buying power and to establish an assistive technology expert advisory panel, and can be read here.
2022
Book launch: Healthy ageing in Asia-Culture, prevention and wellness
https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003043270
Assistive technology and international connections
Building on an invitation to deliver several lectures on digital assistive technology (AT) at Orebro University, Sweden, RAIL’s International NGO Engagement Lead, Dr Natasha Layton, travelled to Europe in October 2022 to visit key AT organisations and researchers across 6 countries delivering presentations, lectures and attending several meetings.
These included occupational therapy, nursing and AT educators across five universities and four countries; wheelchair and seating clinics in England and Ireland; the leading prosthetic service in Norway; and three innovation hubs focused on digital AT. Being in Europe and spending time with colleagues was a wonderful opportunity for Dr Layton to observe practices and priorities. Across Europe, pressing concerns were the humanitarian response to the Ukraine, and the impact of climate change on AT users and supply networks. Meetings with WHO and with SINTEF, a key research institute in Norway, were valuable windows to see how international development bodies are addressing these challenges.
a) Europe Lecture Tour map; b) United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Swedish, Orebro University; c) Dr Natasha Layton & Dr Katarina Baudin, Orebro University, Sweden.
National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) - ENJOY for
Independence in Dementia
Levinger P, Goh AMY, Dunn J, Katite J, Paudel R, Onofrio A, Batchelor F, Panisset MG, Hill KD. Exercise interveNtion outdoor proJect in the cOmmunitYENJOY program for independence in dementia: a feasibility pilot randomised controlled trial study protocol. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2022 Mar 22;8(1):66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-022-01027-x
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgqQjXlFN_0
WHO/UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology
The WHO/ UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology was launched on 16 May (https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/354357)
RAIL researcher Dr Natasha Layton is a contributing author to the Report, which presents the first ever set of data on use and unmet need for products such as orthotics, wheelchairs, and eyeglasses. The Report provides a blueprint to build access and equity for the 2.5 billion people globally and more than two million Australians living with health, disability or age-related conditions who need assistive products. Read more details about this in our article published in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/from-glasses-to-mobility-scooters-assistivetechnology-isnt-always-high-tech-a-who-roadmap-could-help-2-millionaustralians-get-theirs-183529#comment_2807368
My Professional Practice Space
April 2022
On 13 April 2022 staff from the Monash School of Primary and Allied Health Care, lived experience collaborators and community based allied health professionals and disability service providers launched a free online training resource for allied health students undertaking professional practice placements in the field of disability, called My Professional Practice Space: for allied health students.
This resource has been developed as part of an NDIS Jobs and Market Fund project led by Associate Professor Libby Callaway (RAIL Independent Living Stream Lead), with Dr Em Bould, Ms Lisa Licciardi, Ms Karen Dixon, Dr Mong Lin Yu, Ms Kirsty Pope, and Prof Ellie Fossey from Monash Occupational Therapy, and Prof Prue Morgan and Ms Alison Francis Cracknell from Monash's Physiotherapy Department. In collaboration with NDIS participants employed on the project, as well as industry partners Able Australia, Yooralla, Osborn Sloan and Associates and Applied Communication Skills, this two year project built further on a previous NDIS workforce codesign project our team delivered. The new project has scaled up the Monash NDIS allied health student training program delivered in Specialist Disability Accommodation and Supported Independent Living settings to run across Victoria and Tasmania and extend into NDIS-funded lifestyle programs. Evaluation from the program implementation, and participant-led resources stemming from it, informed the design of a free Learning Management System called My Professional Practice Space for allied health students. This Learning Management System is free for use by allied health educators, clinical supervisors, allied health students and other people interested in NDIS workforce development nationally.
To access My Professional Practice Space, please visit the My Allied Health Space page.
2021
My Allied Health Space
March 2021
In early March, Monash University launched My Allied Health Space - a new, free and fully accessible resource for people with disabilities, their families and allied health professionals working with them.
Through a large collaborative team effort, My Allied Health Space was co-designed with people with lived experience of disabilities and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and developed with input from various allied health professional peak bodies and providers. My Allied Health Space provides implementation tools and resources as part of the Victorian Government's new Allied Health Capability Framework: Disability and Complex Support Needs.
To access My Allied Health Space, Click here.
People with disabilities, their families, friends and carers can access a range of checklist on My Allied Health Space to assist selecting, contracting and evaluating the quality of allied health services over time - Click here.
Allied health professionals can access an online resource centre with almost 90 existing education resources for working with people with disabilities who experience complex support needs, via click here. Health professionals can also register to access the online learning management system within the webresource, via click here.
To read about this work, download the 1-page fact sheet or see here.
To listen to a radio interview about My Allied Health Space, by RAIL Research Centre Independent Living Stream led A/Prof Libby Callaway (project lead), Ckick here.
2020
Website to promote physical activity for older people during COVID-19 restrictions
May 2020
A small group of experienced physiotherapist researcher/clinician/academics from across Australia (including Keith Hill and Michele Callisaya from Monash University) saw a need as the COVID-19 restrictions were impacting, to develop a resource to support older people to stay active, or become more active. Over a few short weeks, the team have developed a new website (Safe exercise at home – Safeexerciseathome.org.au) that was launched on Tuesday 5th May. The website includes sections highlighting general information, safety considerations, tips for staying motivated, and how hard you should work, as well as three levels of exercise (including sample exercise sheets, and recommended videos for people with different levels of function), success stories (older people who have managed to stay active during COVID-19, and their tips), and some resources / web links for health professionals who are seeking additional information and resources.
The website has been reviewed by consumers and international experts, and has been endorsed by the Australian Physiotherapy Association. This was an excellent example of a group of individuals nationally with specific expertise in physical activity for older people, working quickly and remotely to address an identified need, with no funding or additional resources (done within the context of everyone’s existing priorities and work commitments, on a very tight timeline).
As well as Keith and Michelle, the team was led by Cathie Sherrington (University of Sydney) and Cathy Said (University of Melbourne), and other team members were Shylie Mackintosh (University of South Australia), Frances Batchelor (NARI), Anne-Marie Hill (Curtin University), Stephanie Fu (University of Queensland) and Rik Dawson (Australian Physiotherapy Association). Special thanks also to Courtney West from University of Sydney for managing all aspects of the web design.
Agents of Change: Healthier at Home
March 2020
With Australian life expectancy increasing, there are many aspects of our healthcare systems that could be improved to cater to the nation’s future needs. Watch Professor Keith Hill and Associate Professor Libby Callaway talk about the important work RAIL is doing to improve how people live, with greater independence and better quality of life.
2019
Visit to Monash Malaysia and the World Falls and Postural Stability Conference
December 2019
RAIL Director Professor Keith Hill recently visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to attend the first World Conference on Falls and Postural Stability. At the conference, he presented the outcomes of the successful RESPOND RCT in reducing falls for older people presenting to emergency departments, led by Monash University. In addition, he moderated a symposium on falls prevention programs and research in Singapore, and attended a fireside chat to informally discuss international issues and potential solutions in falls prevention, led by researchers from Singapore.
Professor Hill also visited the Gerotechnology Laboratory at Monash’s Malaysia campus, led by Associate Professor Pei Lee Teh, and meeting with researchers with research interests aligned to RAIL to discuss possible future collaborations. There are a number of synergies in the research interests and outcomes of the Gerotechnology Laboratory team at Monash Malaysia, and RAIL, which we aim to explore further with potential collaborative grants and other activities.
RAIL represented at Bold Ideas Better Solutions Symposium
October 2019
Associate Professor Libby Callaway recently participated in a panel on emerging technologies hosted by the Hopkins Centre in Brisbane as part of their 2 019 Bold Ideas Better Solutions Symposium .
Panel members discussed the current opportunities and challenges with the emerging mainstream and assistive technology market, the importance of technology user co-design, individualised and customised approaches to technology, and ongoing evaluation of effectiveness over time. To ensure best practice approaches to the use of technology to build independent living, the group also discussed the need for research to inform government policy. Discussion included the National Disability Insurance Scheme assistive technology strategy, the Australian Government's Artificial Intelligence Ethics Framework and the current Regulatory Impact Assessment by the Australian Building Codes Board in relation to accessible housing.
Too many young Australians are still stuck in nursing homes
September 2019
Around 6000 Australians aged under 65 live in nursing homes, cut off from their families and peers, with inadequate support for their disabilities. Associate Professor Libby Callaway and Adjunct lecturer Susan Sloane explore this issue and what needs to be done.
Read the full article: Too many young Australians are still stuck in nursing homes